Oh, Deere. Stock tumbles on earnings miss

Deere & Co's stock tumbled after the tractor maker slashed its 2012 forecast

Farm equipment maker Deere & Co. (DE) is taking a beating from the markets after a lousy earnings report on Wednesday.

The company cited an international slowdown in business as one reason it fell short of its third-quarter earnings forecast and had to slash its outlook for the rest of the year.

Investors were not happy and sent the stock more than 7% lower by midday.

Deere's numbers, particularly the company's expenses, drew questions, skepticism and sarcasm from the traders on StockTwits:

stephanie_link: $DE misses on lower Europe/Asia & prod start up costs. A&T in NA x 10%+ and C&F x 17% = solid NA. ROW softer. Still cant manage expenses...

OptionsHawk: $DE Deere does the opposite of most and misses big on EPS but beats on sales - weird

BryanMortenson: $DE 2mo ago expected large harvest and declining prices, now the opposite. Believe should translate to "a very positive year" in 2013. $$

BryanMortenson: $DE Projecting R&D spend up 15% and SGA spend up 9% in 2012. In a slowing growth environment, this could pressure margins further.

The drought was one odd bright spot. Deere said it could actually drive demand for its tractors and other products.

BryanMortenson: $DE Drought had minimal impact on results, don't think it will impact rest of year's results either. Tailwind for 2013? $$

Chase03670: Cash Receipts for farms will STILL be larger in 2012 than in 2011, despite impact of the drought $DE http://stks.co/l8jU

LukeKramer: $DE No need to panic here. Still very strong company. It's just weather played havoc. And no matter how good co u r, cant control weather.

Investors might not be panicked but the stock is down more than 4% this year.